Abstract
This study compares watching a film in a traditional theater setting to watching the same film in a virtual theater using a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD). The study seeks to determine whether watching a film in a virtual theater is a comfortable experience that viewers can tolerate; and whether watching in VR produces similar feelings of identification, transportation, and enjoyment for the films as watching in a traditional theater. Using the Oculus Rift DK2 HMD and the Riftmax virtual theater software, participants watched either Signs or Ferris Bueller's Day Off in a virtual theater. Other participants watched the same films in a traditional theater setting, and independent comparisons were made. Results indicate that over 90% of the VR participants were able to watch the entire movie in the virtual theater, and feelings of identification, transportation, and enjoyment were quite similar between conditions. Differences found were attributable to the films' content, with an interaction between VR and theater conditions. Implications and future research are discussed.
Highlights
Film companies are becoming increasingly interested in applying virtual reality (VR) technology to the experience of movies
2.5 Research Question and Hypotheses Based on the referenced research on identification and transportation, we propose the following research question: RQ1: How will participants react to watching a full-length feature film in a virtual theater as compared to watching in a real theater in terms of dropout rate?
Evidence showed initially that feeling present in a virtual theater has a small impact on overall enjoyment of the films when analyzed in isolation, but became insignificant when transportation and identification were considered
Summary
Film companies are becoming increasingly interested in applying virtual reality (VR) technology to the experience of movies. At the time of this writing, IMAX theaters have announced their intention to provide venues for virtual reality content (Vincent, 2016). Such uses of VR in the film industry have been tentative and limited so far. What has been implemented as a more accessible first step is the creating of virtual reality theater software (see Harding, 2016; “RiftMax Theater - WEARVR,” n.d.) This software employs VR to place the viewer in a 3D virtual theater environment, where 2D audiovisual content is presented on a virtual screen. Netflix and Hulu (Harding, 2016; Road to VR, 2015) present viewers with a living room style environment, as if they were seated on a couch in front of a big screen TV
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